Aliens: Hudsons Escape
by Dance of the Dead
Summary: I wrote this some years ago and put it on dA, I thought I should put it here as well: What happened after Hudson was taken? Did the anxious Private allow himself to be impregnated and/or killed by the xenomorphs, Hell no! Updated!
1. Chapter 1

Hudson's eyes darted around, looking for any signs of movement within his current vicinity, the only thing that he currently had to rely upon in regards to weaponry was a very small looking combat knife, which would do jack and shit to the xenomorphs. How he had survived being pulled under by the badass Alien a few moments ago, he couldn't quite recall, but some blind luck was certainly involved. Is Pulse Rifle had been dropped into the water somewhere and his dating eyes were trying to find that as well as the Xenomorph.

A few steps revealed where the pulse rifle was, underneath the water. Carefully, slowly, he bent forwards to retrieve the treasured weapon from the depths of the water, it was only thigh deep and easy to wade through, it was the time it took to fumble under the sewerage water that was the hard part. It stank to high heaven, of every unimaginable and unsavoury thing that anyone could think of, and then some. The second that his reaching fingers connected with the strap; he pulled the weapon up and out of the vile water, held it close and resumed his searching to the alien that had pulled him under the floor.

The water was cold, icy cold, yet the only thin that the Marine was interested in now was survival. He had had his taste of death, and assumed that the others would have thought he was in the hands of the aliens and their cocoons. Or they hadn't survived themselves. He had to get back to them, and soon before the complex was blown skyward! Hudson's concentration on finding away out was so absolute that the beeping of the motion tracker made him jump, visibly. Whatever was moving was right ahead of him; the pulse rifle was checked quickly as the marine moved onwards, three signals it seemed.

Overhead the banging of feet interrupted his determination, a glance upwards through the grating granting him with the sight of Hicks and Ripley, running past him.

"Hicks!" Hudson shouted to attract their attention, but to no avail, the blaring sirens were too loud for him to be heard, and he watch them run on. Though he was filled with a renewed hope, they were alive! Sparks a ways overhead in the sewer system caught his attention; maybe they had heard him after all?

When he got closer to the sparks, they had disappeared altogether leaving the marine confused about why they had cut through, until he saw the floating head of Newts doll, so she had been taken too. Poor girl. Hudson closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, so that's where the badass alien had gone He cursed and hit the water with his free hand, causing a splash of rancid water to spill up into his face. At least, if nothing else, the cutting had provided him with a way out of the sewer system. Reaching up, Hudson heaved his way out of the water and back onto the drier walkway. Quickly heading off in the direction that Ripley and Hicks would have gone to the landing bay.

The motion tracker bleeped once more, Hudson had been expecting the company this time, and cocked the Pulse Rifle ready to take on the creatures once again, a quick glance given to the tracker told him that they were near, seconds later they came into view. With contact made, Hudson fired the rifle, and the deafening sound of the Aliens screams and the rifles fire filled the corridor. There weren't as many as first anticipated, with the Aliens felled, Hudson could resume his search for the others, and a way of escape which was becoming a much bigger priority with every passing moment.

With no blue prints to follow Hudson was running blind with no clue on where to go, panic was beginning to settle in once more, he didn't want to die on this forsaken rock. Yet, just as he felt like giving in to the hopelessness of the situation, a T Junction came up, with arrows for directions back to Operations, and the Outdoor Docking Bay. He relief was instant and worked like a moral boost for the Marine, quickening his pace in the direction of something that could get him out of here!

As he followed the track that would lead him to his way of escape, his mind was racing what if the others hadn't made it, what if they had left without him? And, as the large bay doors opened, the fear of no one being there came bitterly true. The ship had gone. He must have taken far too long to get to where they had been.

"Shit! Hat the fuck am I supposed to do now?" Hudson cursed looking quickly for a way of escape knowing that there were now only minutes before the complex was destroyed, he pulled the helmet from his head, how it had stayed there for so long without being strapped was anyone's guess. As Hudson's hand ran through his sweat drenched hair he saw something that might be another glimmer of slim hope, a poorly lit sign cast in shadow by a neon Bar sign. "Lunar Trips."

Hudson darted quickly towards the blasted open bay doors, sprinting for those valuable seconds, his feet stamping through the mud underfoot. Slinging the rest of the bay doors open as he ran into the small storage bay. The shuttle was only small, and wouldn't be very fast. A small vacation shuttle for hose of the colonists that could afford such a luxurious trip to Lv-426's moon. Still, it provided Hudson with a slim change of escape.

Hudson fired up the shuttle, and carefully, and as quickly as he could manage took the shuttle out of the storage bay, a gaze was cast to the watch on his wrist, he only had a few more minutes to get the hell off of Lv-426, which a distant voice reminded him. 2 minutes! He was going to be wasted in the aftermath! When clear enough of the complex, Hudson hit the auto-pilot for the Lunar Run, and strapped himself into the pilots chair, slinging the pulse rifle onto one of the seats behind him. All he could do now was wait, and pray that the small shuttle would make it through the explosion from the complex and that the Sulaco would pick him up.

The explosion was blinding, the shuttle filled with brilliant white light and shook violently, forcing Hudson to close his eyes in order to protect them, and they didn't open.


	2. Chapter 2

Hudsons closed eyes flickered, the rapid movement of a nightmare going on beneath the surface. Vivid to the one experiencing it, but the depths of the horror unknown to those on the outside. The marines eyes opened quickly, his breath was heavy, beads of sweat trickled down his forehead and his hair was plastered to his head. A thin sheet covered his body, and for the longest time he didn't know where he was, or why he was even alive too feel that concern.

Then he remembered, the small ship that he had left Acheron on. The Luna Trip shuttle... someone must have picked up the distress beacon. Hudson moved to sit up in the bed and pain rippled down his arm and over his chest. He gasped to the sharpness of it and flopped back down with an overwhelming dizziness that the movement and pain had caused.

"Fucking hell, Man" he cursed, as he looked about the room, various pieces of medical equipment were scattered about the place, machine blinked and beeped and he knew that they were telling his pulse rate and life signs. The door to the room slided open, letting a bright shaft of light in, which was quickly obstructed by something, something large and dark. The pulse rate beeping quickly fired into overdrive as Hudsons panic settled in to stay, the darkness at the door slinked ever closer to the Marine. A slender hand on top to the bed covers, with fingers and nails as black as night. The elongated head pushed forwards and Hudson looked away, a cringe on his face as his heart continued to hammer against his chest. Panic froze him too the bed, his knuckles white as they gripped the sheet underneath him and he opened his mouth to let out a deep chested scream as the Xenomorph opened it's own mouth to plunge the second into the side of his head.

The scream still at the tip of his breath, Hudson sat up quickly as the nightmares faded once again from his mind, the pain still managed to ripple down his arm where the acid burn from the first encounter was still raw and slowly healing. The medical bay aboard the ship that rescued him was primitive, and all the machines around him were either switched off or broken, never to work again. Although the blackness of space outside never hinted anything less, he knew it was night time aboard the transport ship. The ship ran a skeleton crew, and they'd picked up the distressed shuttle several days ago. Hudson hadn't been on board the shuttle for long himself, but for the time he had been there he had been unconscious, and dreaming. He'd woken up, fixed to one of the working machines and non-the-worse for wear physically, although his arm had been a bit of a mess. It was now bandaged in a rough field dressing and soon himself and the crew would be back in hypersleep and on their way back home to Earth. Hudson had kept the crew from doing so thus far, just in the slim hope that the Sulaco returned to the area too look for him, or in case their seventeen day rescue finally came to their aid.

Hudson was sat on the side of the bed in his shorts when the door opened, a young woman came into the room. She was acting as the crews medical officer, although she knew little more than how to dress wounds and hook someone up to one of the dilapidated machines.

"We're leaving in twelve hours" she told him as she knelt down the back of one of the machines. She could hear him starting to protest, in his usualt outspoken manner when she added. "We're running low on supplies, we have no choice. I'm sorry." as she spoke her hollow apology she pulled one of the cables from the machine and threw it onto the floor next to her, then returned for another cable.

Hudson fell into compliance, the unnatural obedience of the Marine within him falling into place, and he nodded, knowing that he was a guest on the hauler, not in command of it. "Alright." he spoke in his Texan accent and ran a hand through his sweat dampened, short cropped hair. He had known for a while that none of his comrades we're still alive on the dead planet they orbited, and if they had gotten away on the Sulaco, then they we're light years away by now, but the fear of going back to Earth alone to deal with it by himself was overwhelming.

"I'll get a pod preped for you." The woman told him picking up the cables from the floor and left the room, to leave Hudson to brood on his own thoughts.

Hudson stood from the bed and picked up his trousers from the floor and pulled them on, slipping some boots onto his feet without tying the laces. He headed to the window and looked down to the blur of the lifeless planet below him and thought about the good people that he was leaving behind, and going to get revenge for.

The hours passed slowly, and many of the hours we're spent reflecting on what had happened on Acheron. Despite all the bragging and the bigging himself up, Hudson had fallen prey to the weakness of mankind, fear. He swallowed hard and made his way through the large ship toward the suspension chambers after an announcement had been made throughout the ship from the Captain telling the crew that it was time to return home.

A couple of the crew members shot him hard looks as they gathered around the sleep pods and he almost bit back at them, forgetting his place. The woman from earlier opened several of the stasis tubes and the crew members climbed inside ready for the long sleep home.

"This way." The woman called to Hudson, leading him to the tube that had been prepared for him earlier, it then dawned on Hudson that she was the synthetic of the crew, and would be monitoring them during their time in hypersleep. Hudson opened the stasis tube himself and once inside pulled the top closed while the woman did her job outside putting the settings for the light-years ahead of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Earth hadn't changed much while Hudson had been away, but then he hadn't been away that long. The disaster of the mission and the hours of waiting made the time seem a lot longer than it really had been. A small transport shuttle had arrived to the hauler as soon as he had been wakened from the deep sleep of space travel to take him from the docking station back to the planet that he knew as home, and he couldn't feel more relieved. Or guilty.

He was to report to station 52252-808 for debriefing, which was never a good sign. The base was one of those that was rumoured negatively among the Marines. The kind that once you went in, you never came out. Hudson had very few belongings left with him. His spent pulse rifle was slung over his shoulder and the personalised body armour was in his hand, the straps dragging along the floor behind him. His boots crunched on the asphalt as he approached the entrance to the secure building. With him were two escorts who never removed their shade covered eyes from him, in case he were to suddenly do something rash and unexpected, they had been told of his loud-mouthed attitude by one of the ranking officers that he had served under during his time with the Colonial Marines, and had expected him to be much more a loose canon than the deflated wreak that now stood a few steps before them.

The door slid open automatically and the cool air from inside cut through the dry heat of their location. Hudson entered the building without prompt, and handed over some papers which had been filled in on the shuttle down here. A receptionist took the papers from him, and buzzed the three of them in. There was no stopping for any rest, as one of the large built escorts motioned for the Pvt to follow him to one of the back offices.

Hudson was ushered into a dark office, a board of enquiry was already assembled to listen to what had happened to the Sulaco, and the rest of his squad, if they cared that much about the lives that we're lost.

"At ease Pvt." ordered the head of the board, but Hudson had already slung his pulse rifle onto the floor, dropped the body armour and pulled a chair over and sat himself down. This was going to be one tough conversation, and he was damned if he was going to have it stood on his feet.

---

"And where is the Sulaco now?" The head of the Board asked, not for the first time in the conversation. They had been having this conversation for hours.

Hudson sighed sharply as he ran a hand down the back of his neck again, a bead of sweat falling down his forehead. He was getting fed-up and irritated with the interrogation and it's lack of direction. "I told you, I don't know." He started over once again, "The Sulaco left LV-Space before the hauler did." He tried to explain the events once more. "I got separated from the rest of the squad while Bishop was getting the drop ship for our evac. The shit hit the fan, big time! I mean, these things, were all around us. I don't even know who got out alive. I just remember getting to a shuttle and getting off world. I was knocked out after the blast, and the hauler picked me up and brought me back." He said, making no more sense than he had done any other time he had told them. He was dying for a cigarette, or maybe a stuck of gum, anything to take a break from the hammering of the questions.

The chairman nodded, but that didn't mean anything. "And, what was your mission?" He added once more, maybe looking to find another answer to a question that he had asked before, looking for possible holes in an untrue story.

"It was a rescue mission." Hudson answered, but he had his own doubts about the true nature of the mission after what Ripley had told them about Burke and his plans for them. Son of a Bitch. Hudson was certain that the stress was showing on his face, he had been in hypersleep all the way home, but he felt ready for a good nights sleep already. The strain under his eyes was overwhelming, and his arm still hadn't been treated properly. The bandage was showing signs of having been on his arm for too long now, fraying at the ends.

"Thats all?" A small man next to the chair asked him.

"All I was told that we we're to look for some colonists and a xenomorph may be involved." He replied, giving the only answers he could, the tension was rising in his voice already.

"A Xenomorph?" Someone questioned. Hudson felt like going up to the man and punching him until his head squished in. Trust the company to try and deny their existence, even though they had sent them there in the first place. To find proof of them, to bring them back with them too somehow no doubt.

"Yes." Replied Hudson, "Ripley, the civi with us, was an expert on them, I am sure you have her description of them on file." He added, knowing full well that they would, his tone was growing sharper with every answer that he was repeating.

The chairman looked to a file in front of him, then looked to Hudson. "Your due to finish your service in a couple of weeks, aren't you?" He questioned Hudson, this was a new question to throw his way, but it wasn't a false statement. Hudson was now in his thirties, and was nearing retirement from the force. He had no intention of going career with them, and the mission to LV was to be his last.

"That's right." He answered, his voice growing rather wary now, giving a suspicious glance. He felt like some sort of deal was going to be struck. Some sort of silencing order, or cover up. The company was damned good at doing shit like that. Covering up their own mistakes at someone elses expense.

The chairman nodded and lent closer to the person sat beside him, whispering something in his ear that Hudson couldn't hear properly, the conditions of the deal no doubt. The chairman took a moment to adjust one of the medal badges at his chest before looking up to Hudson once more.

"We are aware of the existence of the Xenomorph," He confessed, "However, we do not see it prudent that the general public do not find out the truth. To spread rumors, true or not, about the existence of a monster that we cannot control would only spread panic." The chair explained plainly. "In return for your silence, we will not charge you with the murder of the crew of the Sulaco and the rest of your squad. Dismissed."

Hudson went to open his mouth in protest, to try and proclaim his innocence, but he was cut off quickly.

"Dismissed, Private."

Hudson sat up from his chair quickly, slinging the rifle as the metal chair clattered across the floor behind him. Blackmail. The word tasted bitter in his mouth, and he swallowed that bitterness down.

He had escaped LV and had something of a life left to live, and as he was escorted away from the room to some sort of lodgings where he could stow his belongings and keep a low profile for the next couple of weeks, he was already starting to form some sort of plot against them. He could, and he would, make the bastards pay.

---

In the depths of space a cargo hold was pulled onto a large hauler, the contents bound for Earth.


	4. Prologue

Nightmares.

I don't remember a night where I didn't have one.

Always the same thing too. Over and over.

Black creatures.

I don't need to say any more. I can't say any more, even if I felt I had too. The company keeps a check on these things, we speak too much about them then we're toast. Just like the rest of my squad.

But that's okay.

I got a plan


	5. Chapter 5

There wasn't a part of Hudson's plan that would have been written down as him dealing with the loss that he had experienced by hitting the bottle. Hard. Over a year had passed since his return from the terror planet of LV-426 and the nightmares surrounding the experience, and the former Private First Class had certainly let himself go since his return to his home planet. Though he still looked physically fit, and had kept up something of an exercise routine to keep himself in shape, his hair had grown another couple of inches and was unkempt and he generally went unshaven for many days on end, while on a bender anyway. At first he'd been pleased that his service with the colonial marines had been terminated only a few weeks after his return, he'd spent the two weeks at one of the boot camps, helping train a group of the new recruits. They were good kids. They just reminded him of the companionship that he'd had.

As a gesture of good faith the company had offered him the job of continuing to train some of the new recruits in his own specialised field. Training future technicians. He had always loved all that, the whole ability of knowing exactly what nuke did what, and how much destruction something could cause and the precise number of the blast radius. It was a power that not many in the squad had, and he often lorded it over them. Even if that went beyond irritation.

Hudson smiled fondly into the bottom of his empty glass and considered buying another, but he had had to really beg hard for the last service from the barman and the room was spinning pretty profusely already. He got up from the stool he had been perched on and made his way to leave, stumbling slightly as his legs didn't quite work the way that had remembered they used to, he held his arm out to steady himself, smashing into the back of someone. This particular someone was as large as he was, and didn't take too kindly to being smacked into by a drunken bum. Hudson looked like a scruff, not only was his appearance something to be frown upon, the marks on his arm had never really healed to well, from the lack of early treatment. The tags that he had managed to keep from his service hung around his neck, dangling over a dull grey wife-beater. Snug around his waist hung a pair of plain olive khakis, a sturdy pair of boots were the only thing that felt good on his feet, and the most expensive thing that he wore-they were stolen from his last days in service.

"Watch where your shoving, Mr." Sounded the large man's patronising voice over a score of music, he was certainly a lot more used to living life, but then he hadn't been through what Hudson had.

It was the smart mouth of Hudson that spoke first, "That'd be Private." he said, he never realised how much the title had meant to him, until he had been discharged. It was clear that the person that he'd shacked into wasn't one of the more accommodating people when it came to a veteran of the unknown, and gave him a drop dead look and then went to turn away.

Next thing he knew, the guy was flying across the room. Hudsons' hand balled into a fist and white knuckled as it smashed into the side of the strangers face before they could say another word to him. He'd known where that was going, it's start with a dig about him only being a Private, and still proud of that fact, then it'd probably turn into a shouting match and he'd get cussed at and insulted about the way him arm looked, why not just cut all that crap out and go right for where the argument was going in the first place, a clash of alpha males.

Hudson stumbled slightly as someone screamed and pushed past him towards the felled man, probably a girlfriend. The room still spinning madly, and he felt some strong arms on him. He pushed and pulled against him and someone yelled towards him that he should be removed. He'd become a wild-card as of late, picking fights and using drink as a way to vent his anger and frustration of his helpless situation.

The pavement was cold and wet, Hudson was thrown down onto it hard by the two men that had picked him up from inside the bar, the splash of dirty puddle didn't phase him too much as a small truck passed by despite it soaking him as he picked himself up off the floor, he turned to face the bar stuck up a two fingered salute and shouted, "Yeah fuck you too!"

"Walk it off, Private." The first bouncer returned to him in a familiar fashion but he still took a step towards him, knowing defeat Hudson turned, shoving his hands into his damp pockets, and staggered off, his footsteps uneven as they just wandered on auto pilot towards the small rented apartment that he'd managed to secure some months ago. The city that he had come to live in was large, overcrowded and pretty horrendous, but it was home none the less. It was grungy and dirty, much like someone would expect from such a large industrial city.

Hudson lived on the thirteenth floor of a high-rise complex, the view from his front door was another high-rise and from the back an industrial complex which often let off a terrible smell of burnt hair. The walk home had done a little to clear his head, but there wasn't much he wanted to think about and was just glad to be back in the safety of his apartment.

It was a sparse place with little decoration to it, just a couple of knick-knacks here and there, a couple of them broken. The walls and floor we're just as grim as the world outside. Hudson leaned back and close the door behind him, pushing it with his hands behind his hand, the key-card in his hand being dropping in it's usual place on the floor right near the door so that it wouldn't get lost. Normally he would just shuffle off and get his sorry ass onto the bed before collapsing for the night. However something on the floor grabbed his attention and he stooped to pick it up from underneath his boot.

Hudson quickly flicked open the damp envelope and pulled out a typed letter, he had had a few of them before and they were some sort of crazy resistance group that he had ran into one night not long after his discharge, and he'd started sprouting some drunken crap about horrible monsters that they thought they understood. Really, the group was just looking for some powerful backing and thought they were being cool, like in some sci-fi movie. Hudson had given them his address in his drunken state and they sent him letters thinking that he was one of them or something like that. He had never actually been to one of their gatherings, and didn't know why he even still opened the letters.

His eyes scanned the letter quickly, though the words didn't stand out through his tired and blurred eyes. He moved into what was his bedroom, a mattress on the floor and a small grey lamp-shaded light on a low desk were it's only contents. The bed was unmade and a pile of unclean clothes were spilling out of a flopped over basket. He sat down on the mattress, untied his boots and kicked them off across the room. One hit the wall and left a muddy mark, he cussed and then looked back down at the letter. Froze. In an instant his blood turned cold, and he felt sober once again rapidly. He closed his eyes and just stared for the longest time at a picture that was included in the resistance report. He ran a hand through his hair as a cold sweat formed over his body. It couldn't be happening.

Included in the report was a fuzzy image, clearly a photograph taken with the highest level of discretion, of a woman. Some sort of scientist that had remained unnamed. It was behind her what had Hudsons attention, a large tank inside which was one of those black alien fucks leering out towards the viewer, it's teeth bared in a menacing fashion. Although the image wasn't easy to make out due to the poor quality, it was obvious to those that knew exactly what the thing behind the scientist was. Evil.

Hudson pulled his legs onto his make shift bed, and leaned against the back of the wall, staring at the letter he had received. The hand on his acid burned arm squished into a fist for the second time that night, and he cursed loudly. His expression filled with hate. Maybe it was high time he got involved with this resistance group and he found out exactly what they knew.


	6. Chapter 6

The Ex-Tech Marine couldn't believe what his ears were hearing. The assembled members of the resistance group must be out of their god-damned minds. He'd been sat at the back of the dark meeting room since the presentations and items on the agenda had started over an hour ago, patiently waiting for the group to get too the issue regarding the Xenomorphs. The meeting room was cold, and Hudson was pleased that he had decided to wear his long over coat out this evening. The meeting was being held in a small hall, which had a few school chairs in the middle of the room pointed towards a front out of date projector screen. Clearly the groups resources were not spent on luxuries where they weren't needed.

And this was the bullshit that he had waited for.

The man delivering the presentation was a skinny man, with long dark hair tied into a low, thin ponytail. On his slender face he wore a pair of small round thin-framed glasses, the lenses of which were tinted a peach colour. He wore a pair of tattered jeans and an old fashioned Green Che Guevara t-shirt. He was motioning to the Xeno's in the cage in the photograph that Hudson had already seen and was spouting shit about how Gods animals should not be used like lab-rats in research facilities. Like the Aliens were the victim in all of this. He felt sick, but that was nothing compared to the overwhelming disbelief towards it all. Hudson shook his head and folded his arms across his chest, looking towards the floor, just listening to the unbelievable words that the skinny man. The man's name had been announced as Claude, and he looked to be one of the more senior members of the meeting. As he announced that there was going to be some sort of plan to help the Xenomorphs from their cells a loud cheer had been given throughout the room. A few details had been given as to where the Xenomorphs were being kept and researched on, but details at this time were sketchy. As the applause sounded Hudson stood up in his chair quickly and it clattered loudly to the floor bringing eyes and attention to him.

"What the fuck? Your all fucking crazy, man." He shouted over the suddenly quiet room, they clearly didn't know the bugs like he did. Setting them loose was as an insane idea as he could think of! Hudson glanced once more to the Aliens in the picture that was alight via the projection on the wall in front of him, and looking to the face of the man giving the presentation, his stony expression serious and somewhat offended to the outburst. There was a man who wasn't going to have his mind changed by some rough looking drunk.

"Do you have any idea what those things are?" Hudson continued to rant towards the room, though the looks he was getting made him back himself slowly towards the room. The room had an idea, and their minds wouldn't be changed. They thought that the Aliens were something to be pitied. Something that needed their help.

"Those things," Hudson pointed towards the projection, "Would sooner tear you apart than give you any thanks. Free them and we're all fucked!" He said, his voice catching as he touched on the nature of the Aliens, and he had to take a moment to clear his mind again from a quick flash of an oncoming nightmare.

The cocking of a pistol not to far away from his ear made Hudson silence his mouth and raise his hands, turning his head to face the barrel of the weapon. If that didn't give him the hint to leave, then nothing in here would, his eyes lifted to the holder of the weapon, a burly looking guy with an unshaven face, looked like he could hold his own in a brawl and that wasn't something that Hudson wanted to start in here. Not without a weapon of his own.

"Get out!" he burly man spoke, and pointed the barrel of the gun towards the door. Hudson nodded and made his way to the door, his hands still raised, being seen from the premises by the gun wielder, close behind him Claude followed, just to make sure that Hudson knew his place.

As Hudson closed the door behind him he could hear a cheering sounding from the place. All of them were mental. If they really intended to let the Aliens go from the labs. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and let out a sigh, the breath turning to crystal in the cold air before him. His mind was rapidly going over what had been said inside at the meeting. All he could think of was their crazy plan, and that they were to let the Xenomorphs free, and that the lab was here. On Earth. He needed a drink, something to brood over while he tried to digest the information and think up some sort of a counter plan. He couldn't allow those things to get loose. Not here.

Hudson headed towards the overhead tram line, heading to a bar that would be closer to him. All the while his mind alive with the ideas brewing in his mind. He had to get some sort of contact inside the lab, someone that he could either warn about the activists or even better, someone that would help him take down the Aliens that the building held. Someone had to trust him, someone had to know the truth about these things other than him. If not it was going to be a difficult battle.

The tram ride to his usual haunt seemed to take twice as long as it normally did, but he finally made it without feeling too cold and even despite the events that had happened a few nights before the bouncers greeted him in their usual leering fashion and let him in after a quick pat down and search. One of them even held the door open for him, and he quickly made his way towards the bar calling the bartender over and ordering a drink, and signalling that he wanted something else from the man as well.

The bartender first poured Hudson his usual strong drink and took his card from him so that he could pay later. Hudson had known the bartender since he'd set foot back on Earth, and they had developed a pretty decent trust between them, a trust that involved the passing of information and money.

"I need someone inside the company." Hudson told the bar man with a hushed voice, "Lab sector." he added with a slight delay. The tender nodded and gave his usual answer.

"Cost ya." His voice was harsh from the sound of too many cigarettes and working in the bar for most of his long adult life. That was the sign that the information could be found out and brought from the man. If he didn't already have someone in mind, then he could get someone.

Hudson nodded and slid another card to the man over the bar, one that could be used and not traced back to his own name and living address. As his hand came back towards him he picked up the glass and downed the strong whiskey within in a single go. The burn down his throat felt good, it reminded him that he was still alive to feel.

And it sure felt good to be setting parts of his private war in motion.


	7. Chapter 7

When Hudson woke from a bitter night filled with swirling nightmares and visions of how his subconscious worked out the potential future scenario, a pale light was filtering through the slatted blinds of the bare bedroom and shining directly into his eyes. He pulled his eyes closed again and sat up, throwing the thin sweat covered sheet from off him. His head was pounding with a heavy set hang-over that could only be brought about by drinking far too much bourbon.

As he stood up and walked naked across his room, his foot contacted with an empty glass bottle kicking it across the floor as he left the room, grabbing the nearest green wife-beater from the work top and headed to the bathroom to try and wake himself up and relieve some of the pain throbbing it's way through his head.

Scant seconds after the shower started running cold water over him the loud trilling of the ancient phone rang. Hudson cursed, slipped on the bottom of the shower as he scrambled towards the noisy object while wrapping a towel around his waist, cursing under his breath all the while. The phone sounded a last time just as Hudson picked up the receiver. An angry voice sounded on the other end of the phone.

"Cars outside, Private. Get your ass out here."

Hudson grimaced as the caller hung up the phone quickly. Anger quickly replaced the grimace on his face and he lashed out hitting the top that the phone was resting on, the anger quickly subsided to panic. How could he not realise that it a day he had to go in and teach what his years of experiences in the Marine Corps to the fresh meat. Stalking back to the bathroom to turn off the running water from the shower, leaving himself unshaven as he once again grabbed the wife-beater pulling it over his head and down his cheat as he walked quickly around the small apartment for the rest of his clothing. A simple pair of combat pants and a stiff pair of leather boots finished the ensemble and it would have to do with the scruffy look that the Private had been sporting lately seeing as he had less than enough time to get himself prepared.

Storming down the stairs, after making sure that his apartment door clicked closed, he came out the door to a warming morning that had yet to cloud over with the large cities smog and quickly bundled him into the back of a black car that was waiting for him open doored, on the pavement of the street directly outside his apartment block.

–

The day had been long and tiring for the ex-marine. His services to his previous employer we're part of a contract that Hudson hadn't taken to kindly to signing, but the work was a source of income. The lads he was training for the technicians spot that he'd once had were all bright young men, and could generally see through Hudson and his issues with his drinking. Most of them assumed that why he had the position he did within the Corps now, it was the only thing they could think of that someone would be kept in the Corps, but not out with their squad. Why would they even think that Hudsons squad was killed by an unstoppable force of giant black monsters?

Hudson, as normal after a days work that reminded him of the fragile kinship of a squad of marines, headed straight to the bar. The day was slowly turning into evening time, not the earliest he'd been out drinking and drowning his time away. Although this time there was a twinge of excitement that gripped his stomach as well as the need to forget the past. The frail hope that the bar-keep had some developments for him on tracking what he needed.

The bar was filling rather early for once, a group of women were sat around one of the circular tables near the door. A couple of other people scattered themselves about the place keeping their own company or the company of their partner. Hudson, keeping his head down settled himself at the bar and ordered himself a small strong drink which the bar-keep poured for him. The Ex-Marine downed the drink and then had another one poured for him. A sound from the door way, a cry from the girly group as another one joined them with exclaims and apologies that they were late and how they got caught up at work had caught in Hudsons' ear. A small whistle caught his attention again towards the bar and the bar-keeper discreetly passed him a small white envelope.

"Don't look at it here." he was told, and Hudson quickly put the envelope in his back pocket. The twinge of excitement doubling as he realised that he'd have someone to contact on the inside of the company. Weyland Yutani was finished! He nodded neutrally to the bar-keeper and lowered his head again to look into the filled glass in front of him. Maybe the drink would taste differently now that he had some good news for once. One of the women from near the door, Hudson assumed the late comer, came up to the bar herself and ordered a drink which was quickly delivered to her expertly. However when she picked up and turned to move back to the table with her friends, the strap of her back caught hold of Hudsons small drink and spilled the contents over the bar.

"Oh my, I am so sorry." she quickly apologised to him. "Let me get you a replacement." She added quickly. Turning back to the bar, putting her pitcher on the top of the bar as she called over the bar keeper.

"No, it's alrigh'" Hudson told her just as quickly, it had been an honest accident after all, and it wasn't as though he didn't get most of his drinks here on tab these days anyway.

"I insist." she added, as one of her friends came over to join her, to make sure that everything was all right and that she wasn't being assaulted or harassed in any way.

"Everything all right Genna?" she asked, but then a grin came over the second woman's face as she looked down to Hudson as she towered over him in high heeled shoes.

"Everything's fine, just an accident." Then she looked to her friend and returned the smile with a grin of her own and she added. "What, you don't like soldier boys?" She asked her friend who discreetly gave Hudson another look and nodded to her friend with a broad grin.

The woman talked among themselves as the bar-keeper brought Hudson his replacement drink, taking the card off the woman once more so she could pay for the drink.

Although Hudson wanted to sneak off somewhere and look at the file he had been given, he just couldn't pull himself away from the bar and the evening turned to night and the few drinks turned to a few more. It wasn't long before Hudson found himself enjoying the company of the few women that remained a little closer. The conversation was as light hearted as their heads, fun and rather flirty with the woman who had spilt his drink. With the encroachment of the alcohol into his mind the letter in his pocket had almost been forgotten. A couple more of the women left, saying they had work in the morning and excused themselves, leaving Hudson and the woman called Genna with the other woman from the bar with them. It felt good to have a laugh with strangers.

"So where do you live... Hudson?" Genna asked curiously, the using of his surname felt strange off her tongue, but his christian name hadn't been divulged. There was a hint to her slightly drunken voice that she would like to be taken there tonight, to spend the night.

The other woman gave a laugh as she took hint of the not so subtle proposition that Genna had just layed out to Hudson.

"Not far away." Hudson replied rather vaguely, the alcohol had given him the hope that he wouldn't be going home alone tonight, and with the obvious proposition the hope had turned itself up in his mind.

As the women got to their feet, Hudson did the same, the three of them being as equally unsteady on their drunken feet as the last. As they left the bar, the other woman managed to excuse herself and bundle herself drunkenly into a cab, leaving Genna and Hudson standing, his arm around her waist as they leaned on one another for the laughing, whooping and enjoyable walk back to Hudsons shabby apartment. The night was cool, but the heat of their bodies and drunkenness gave them heat enough to keep of the worst of the nights chill.

The apartment block door was wedged open as it normally was by those who broke their curfews and Hudson led Genna into the building block, calling the elevator. Someone shouted at them through the door a threat that it had better not be their son crawling home drunk again, which brought a fresh uproar of laughter from the couple as the elevator came to collect them. Hudsons apartment was on the fifth floor, it was easy to bomb down the stairs in a hurry, but crawling up them in a drunken state of mind made them feel mountainous.

"Ta-da!" Hudson exclaimed as he pulled a card out of his pocket, motioning the key-card towards the slot near the faded red painted door, the scratch marks down the door gave the place it initial shabby look that was carried out through the rest of the apartment. "Home-sweet-shithole." He said as the door swung open. The lighting came on automatically as the door hit the wall. Further aiding a rapidly growing scuff hole where the door handle smashed. Hudson then looked back to Genna and quickly before she could protest picked her off her feet, slammed the door shut behind him with his foot and carried her to the bedroom where they would spend the night.


	8. Chapter 8

Another morning, after another dread filled night. One day the nightmares would stop, but the past month they had been relentless in their pursuit of driving Hudson mad from restlessness sleep. His room smelt of stranger and intrusion. Without sitting up on the bed, his hand rose to his forehead to try and wipe away his heavy head and jog his memory into working a greater sense of clarity. He knew there had been a woman in his small bed last night and they had made love more than once. As he finally managed to sit up in the bed, reaching onto his floor to find his packet of smokes empty, he remembered about the letter that the bar keeper had given him still unread in the back pocket of his trousers.

He leaned over edge of the mattress bed and picked up his trousers, reaching into various pockets until he found what he was looking for. The white envelope held the answers to various questions that Hudson had been asking for over a year now. Hudson stood up and climbed over the mattress and crossed the room heading towards the kitchen, switching the kettle on to make himself a strong coffee. Smiling faintly to a message that had been tacked to his fridge by Genna with her number hastily written on it. The kettle boiled noisily as Hudson read the simple message on the paper and his smile broadened. The kettle clicked as the water reached boiling point and Hudson made himself a black coffee the good old fashioned way. Taking the plastic cup and its contents to the table, sitting down on a cheap sun chair that looked like it had been rescued from a beach way back in the 80's. Reclining in the tattered material Hudson opened the envelope. A small photograph fell into his lap and a small letter was enclosed within.

The letter was written in small looped writing and gave a name "Dr. Racheal Gehenna." Hudson continued to read the letter which outlined the Dr's position in the company and what she did in regards to what Hudson had asked for in relation to his issues within the company. From what he could gather Dr. Gehenna was a part of a middle team within the company and she was an overseer of one section of Xeno-Husbandry. What this section did with the Xenomorphs he didn't know, or didn't care too. The letter continued to read about Dr. Gehennas concerns with the research unit and what the companies intentions were with the dangerous creatures that they were using in their experiments. With a small extract from her professional journal;

"The latest experiments on the LV-Xenomorphs have proven that the creatures are far more resilient to extremes than first expected, with specimens surviving even in solid vacuum."

The extract was only small, but it seemed as though the Dr was researching was in which the Xenomorphs could be successfully destroyed. Hudson had his doubts. If the company could spend money on practical experiments of destruction who knew how many of these things they had at their disposal. After reading the rest of the letter, drinking the coffee as he digested the words that the letter had told him. His feet resting on the table top he picked the photograph up that had fallen into his lap to look directly into the eyes of Genna.

The photograph was a simple portrait used on an identification card, but there was no mistaking it. The contact that he had within the company was the same woman that he had slept with last night. He closed his eyes a moment in thought and really wished that the packet of cigarettes on his bedroom floor wasn't empty any more. Now that he was thinking clearly, he had even seen a photograph of Genna before now, in the image that the activist group had mailed out to him. He had just been far to distracted and interested in the Xenomorph in that particular photograph that he had blanked the scientist stood in front of them. The cursed under his breath and walked over to the fridge picking up the note that Genna had written for him, putting it into his back pocket. He then made his way over to the cheap plastic telephone so that he could make a call.


	9. Chapter 9

Weyland Yutani had always had the ability to astound, although not always in the most positive of manners, their buildings were no exception to their abilities. Hudson was currently stood outside Earths tallest skyscraper owned by the company that the ex-Tech Marine had been ordered to keep well away from. Standing just outside of the large building blowing cigarette smoke through barely parted lips Hudson was stalling. The slight pull of nerves gripping him as he gave the entrance to the building a quick glance. Knowing full well that within the building Mr. Weyland and his business partner were taking part in dreadful and risky scientific research. The stub end of Hudson's cigarette was flicked onto the floor and stamped out by the ridges cut into the sole of his heavy combat boot.

With no excuses left he followed a suited business man into the building. Keeping in step behind the well dressed man, Hudson made his way toward the entrance, only to be stopped by the receptionist behind the welcome desk. By the side of which two twin detectors stood sentry.

"Can I help you, Sir?" the receptionist asked politely.

"I'm here to see Miss Gehenna." Hudson explained heading over to the desk, putting his fingerless gloved hands upon the top of the desk giving it a casual tap, trying to come across as confident despite feeling far from it under the surface. He even threw in a small smile to the receptionist.

"Do you have an appointment?" The receptionist countered, looking up from her desk, certainly not giving into the charm that Hudson was trying to use in order to get him access to the rest of building. She was clearly having none of his loud-mouthed and brash attitude. She had a job to do and would see that it got done. Her hands moved to the keyboard ready to take his name from her so that she could book him into the building and move on again then to the next task at hand.

"No, but she is expecting me." Hudson lied to the stern woman behind the desk, the thoughts that he would have to leave the building empty handed already was absolutely devastating. And not an option that he was going to take.

"There's no access without an appointment." reiterated the receptionist to get her point across to the man, she resumed one of her other many tasks.

Hudson moved away from the desk and moved to take his cell phone from his pocket, however before he could flip the old-fashioned phones top to punch in the numbers, he heard a call from the other side of the reception hall, from beyond the barriers he couldn't get past.

"Hey," the female voice called out toward him, coming through the detection barriers towards him. Dressed in a more formal pencil skirt suit and a white lab coat, Hudson barely recognised her. "Your that guy that took Genna home last night, right? Your here to see her?" the woman pressed him for information. The breach of formality to the stark yet efficient building seemed suddenly out of place. The voice of the company rang out reminding it's employees that they were doing the right thing for human society.

"Thats me," Hudson replied in as many words as he could get in before the woman started speaking again. She was a small woman, full of life and energy. She had as much go in her as she had done the night before and didn't seem to be worse the wear which was a surprise in itself with the volume that she had consumed. She was a wild card, and Hudson was shocked that the source that his contact in the bar used hadn't put her photograph in his letter.

"Can you believe this crap?" she questioned Hudson again, motioning to one of the nearest company logos on the wall, referring to the voice that had just spoken. She then turned round and motioned for Hudson to follow her "I'll take you to her." she said with a smile as her back was turned to him. Obediently the marine fell in step behind her quickly not objecting to the breach of protocol that their actions surely were. Upon seeing the lab coated employee leading someone into the building the receptionist moved her arm towards the and told them to wait. Looking over his shoulder to see where she sat, Hudson saw the extend of Weyland Yutani's lies. The woman whom he had just been speaking to was wired into the chair she had been sitting on, unseen to the casual viewers eyes. She was nothing more than a masterfully crafted droid. A pretty face and voice for the face of the companies building, who didn't need legs to get around, just be switched off at the end of the night.

"Cram is Julia." the woman told the receptionist as if she were a living person. Hudson had had dealings with synthetics before. Bishop, a welcomed part of his unit and someone he had once considered a friends was an artificial person, but that thing. That was a monster.

Hudson tried to force the image of the half being from his mind as Genna's friend led him to the elevator. He was certain that it was going to be a long ride to the top of the building. He couldn't see that a research facility would be anywhere near the ground floor of the multi-purpose complex. Weyland liked his secrets far to much to keep them anywhere within the public eye. As the elevator door closed, in front of him he breathed an inward sigh of relief, getting into the building would have been the hardest part of his entire operation without the help.

"So what's your name?" Hudson asked the woman, he couldn't keep mentally referring to her as Genna's friend, also elevator music wasn't the companies strongest point!

"You don't remember? Damn, you must have been drunk! It's Meg." she told him, with a little teasing elbow jab to the ribs. If Hudson had been told this information, which he was pretty certain that he hadn't, he was sure he'd have remembered it. He nodded to her, but didn't apologise for the fact he may have forgotten. Trying to mull over in his head what to say to Genna when they met up again, it was going to be a very difficult conversation and between Meg's constant chatter and the irritating music and announcements that the elevator was providing him he couldn't clear his mind to get past the simple greeting, let alone talk to Genna about taking Weyland Yutani down.

"What do you do here?" Hudson asked Meg, if only to get her to silence for a fraction of a minute.

"I don't know if I can tell you, but I work in Xeno-Husbandry." Meg said, with little regard to the rules that she often displayed.

"So you work with Genna?" Hudson then added, hoping that he could get a bit of information from the woman he accompanied before meeting up with Genna. Meg gave him a sideways glance, frowned and then laughed.

"Where did you get a crazy idea like that? Genna is my boss, she is a researcher here!" Meg explained.

Hudson's face dropped, any hint of a smile that was on his features just vanished. The information that he had been given had been totally wrong. Now it was completely understandable why he would have needed an appointment to speak with Genna, she wasn't just working in Xeno-Husbandry, whatever that was, she was an actual researcher. Working on the Xenomorphs, testing them. He closed his eyes for a moment, and just wanted to bail out on the whole operation. A worker he could do something with, a researcher. That was asking to walk on thin ice. As the doors opened on the 731st floor of the building and the stark white walls of a research facility opened out before him his cracking resolve was propped up by a few layers of scaffolding stubbornness. This would be his only chance and there was no backing out on his plans now.


	10. Chapter 10

As the doors to the elevator opened, Meg pointed out the directions that he would need to follow to find Dr. Gehenna's office. She then gave him a playful salute, which he didn't return and she went on her way. Following the vague instructions towards the office that Genna worked in, trying to take in as much of the surroundings as he could. The environment looked simple enough, a series of corridors enveloping what he gathered to be some sort of laboratory. He had the sickening feeling that he had been here before. Mostly in his nightmares. Feeling his resolve and composure cracking for the second time in just as many minutes, he took a fraction of time to run his hand through his short yet messy hair, his acid burnt arm moving to lean against the wall. It was such a big task that he had undertaken and without the back up, or weaponry that he'd had last time, recalling how he had fallen apart. He swallowed hard, he couldn't let the memory of his friends turn to ashes. Cursing himself for his renewed weakness and doubt he pushed himself from leaning against the wall and onward towards where he had been pointed.

The plain white office door had Dr, Gehenna's name etched onto a removable metal plate, making her office unmistakeable, but easily replaceable. He knocked on the door gently, and a voice answered not long after he announced his presence telling him to come into the room. Hudson let himself into the room, and looked to Genna as she stuffed something into her the top draw of her desk. The doctor looked up from her desk draw and instantly frowned.

"I told you not to come." She scolded him, giving an indication of how their conversation had gone earlier on that morning. There was little affection to her words, but an undertone to her voice that betrayed them.

"I'm a bit of a jer..." Hudson spoke, but his breath caught in his throat and he couldn't continue the self insult. How he hadn't noticed what had caught his eye the second he had entered the room he would never begin to understand. Behind Genna was a large clear panel, which the Tech Marine assumed was some sort of plexi-glass. Concealed behind the glass was an enclosure, almost free range judging by the size of the room. The décor of which was none other than that of the secreted decorations of a xenomorph hive. The monsters contained within, hidden from view, tucked away in the darkest corners of the room.

"You shouldn't be seeing this Private." Genna once again reprimanded him, her arms folding across the front of her lab coated chest. The use of his rank sounded like a warning from her as a researcher and as someone who worked for Weyland Yutani, here came the thin ice.

"Cut the crap!" Hudson scolded her and the shock on her face was something that he had almost been expecting, reaching into the inside pocket of his long coat for the letter that he had been given over the bar, he threw it in the direction of the desk as he made his way closer to her. "I know your having as much doubt as I am about Weyland." He added motioning for her to look at the contents of the envelope. "About them." he added, eyed the enclosure behind Genna. Just on cue one of the monsters within sped by the glass, causing the Marine to startle. He'd had the faint hope that the was nothing kept within the research space and that the décor had just been someone's idea of a sick joke. That was unfortunately not the case.

Genna's frown lifted from her thin eyebrows, and she gingerly picked up the envelope and took out the letter and photograph of herself. She studied the image of herself and how haggard she looked. She gave out a small sigh, and already knew what the letter would say. Her thoughts had been found by someone and it looked like they had been sold on somehow. She gave another stress filled sigh and approached the man that she had slept with the night before. There was something in his eyes that spoke of determination, panic and regret. "What do you know about them?" she ventured.

There was a level of hesitation as she asked her question, recounting what had happened over a year ago was still emotionally painful, but if he couldn't bestow her with a level of trust how could she do the same in return. His own sigh sounded in return to those that had escaped Genna's lips, and he seemed to sag as he recounted what he had been through over the past eighteen months and further. There we're details that he had glossed over, mostly those of his own cowardice and idiocy. Hudson gave particular attention to the fact that one of the companies own men had tried to get some of his crew members impregnated by one of the small pale parasites.

"The company must have found another source or some way to get them off world." Hudson mused out loud, hoping that Genna could shed some light on his thinking. The idea that there had been more of those things out there in the known universe near terrified him.

When Hudson looked up, after having subconsciously lowered his head as he'd recounted the past, he saw Genna leaning against her desk in disbelief. Her hand covering her mouth in shock. "An entire colony?" she questioned, her voice quivering as she spoke.

Hudson nodded and took a few steps over to where Genna was leaning, feeling largely unsettled as two of the monsters from his nightmares moved over to the class to observe the humans on the other side. He gently placed a hand on Dr. Gehenna's shoulder. "How many do you have here?" he asked, hoping that with the exchange of information that he had given her, he would get something in return.

"Six adults." Genna answered instantly, the magnitude of Weyland's destructive ambition having been savagely driven home. "All in there." she motioned to the enclosure behind her. Her own face lifted, an expression of determined sadness wrought across her face.

"We have to destroy them." Hudson told Genna revealing the only route that he knew was open to him. There was a look of hesitation on Genna's face, and he knew instantly that he had ventured to far with her and her loyalties hadn't fractured enough for him to depend on her. He went to speak to her again, but was suddenly interrupted by an unemotional, electromechanical voice repeating the lines;

"_Security breach, Intruder alert." _

The lights within the small office changed, and flashed between the warning red and brilliant white. Genna looked to Hudson with a renewed look of alarm and stood from her leaning position. "You brought friends?" she questioned and accused, to which he shook his head and replied,

"Ain't got any left!" The thought that the alarm could be a warning about him had vanished as quickly as it had arrived, if the sentry on the door had seen him as a threat then the alarms would have been sounding well before he had reached the 700th floor. There must be someone else. Who else would want to force access to a place like this? Who else would have something to gain? Claude! Hudson cursed underneath his breath. The place would lock itself down when under threat like this, right. As a fail safe. It had to so nothing could leak out onto Earth many miles below!

The monsters behind the glass had become agitated at the noisy sirens and constant voice sounding, the sudden change of environment unknown and exhilarating. Genna had moved behind her desk and looking onto a monitor, a warning flashing on screen. The blurred image of movement from one a corridor, that when Hudson joined her, looked the same as all the others. "The floor above." Genna told him with alarm. "Meg!" She added knowing that her understudy and friend worked above her.

Without thought to her actions Genna headed straight for the door of her office, Hudson tried to fall in just behind her, only for them both to stop as the door to the office flew open and them to be greeted by the unwelcome end of a shotgun.


	11. Chapter 11

The barrel of the large weapon was being held by the very same burly man who had stopped Hudson at the activist meeting only a few night ago. The irony that the man had made the upgrade to such a powerful weapon and Hudson was still armless wasn't lost on the Marine. Hudson raised his hands in surrender.

"In here." the large man called outside of the office too the skinny Claude entered the room, his own smaller firearm raised in front of him. Claude headed over to where Genna and Hudson were standing in silence, he even gave a cocky nod to Hudson in recognition, all the Marine wanted to give the activist in return was a violent head-butt to the bridge of his nose; the harsh reminder of the glistening weapon put him in his place. "Don't even think about it, Private." Claude told him, as he passed by the two humans. Knowing that he had the security of the other man at his back Claude felt he could wander over to the enclosure and spend some time looking at the beautiful creatures trapped within. He smiled as two of the large Xenos returned to stare out of the glass, their tails lashing in agitation.

Claude put his free hand on the reinforced glass and spoke to the monsters within. "Don't worry my beauties, we'll get you out, aren't they beautiful Ajay?" Claude looked over his shoulder to the man who had the shotgun trained on the researcher.

The same sickening feeling that had swept across him during his first meeting with Claude returned. Hudson took a small step the to slim framed man, "Look Claude, these things aren't what you think..." the Marine tried to reason, but he was cut off by a raised hand. The activist leader didn't want to hear what he had to say, Hudson already knew that, he wasn't expecting to hear Genna backing him up so quickly.

"Hudson is right," She started to speak to Claude, "Whatever you think these animals are, they are nothing like what you are imagining." She tried to tell him, speaking softly, hoping that if she remained calm and controlled in her voice, she would be heard and their message would get through.

"Shut up!" spat Claude towards the researcher, repeating the line again as he stormed over to her and harshly backhanded her. Genna clung to the side of her desk, her hand moving to the side of her jaw. Hudson made to move towards the violent activist, but was once again greeted by the wrong end of the weapon. "Cool it!" Claude warned the ex-Marine, who was reduced to glaring at the other man.

Hudson moved to place a hand on Genna's shoulder, "You alrigh'?" he asked quietly as Claude headed over to the burly man at the office door. Genna nodded back to Hudson, but he could clearly see the sting on her face and the prickle of tears in her eyes to the cheap blow that Claude had given her. The resentment on her face absolute.

"Bring them." Claude ordered Ajay as he headed out of the room. The burly man motioned his weapons barrel to the door and the two did as they were being told. They both kept a silent vigil as they were walked to the lab area, the entrance to the Xenomorph enclosure. Gathered outside the door were a bunch of other researchers, most of whom had been put into a kneeling position on the floor in submission. Abruptly the sirens of warning and flashing lights stopped. A couple of the researchers looked to one another in confusion, their hopes of a rescue from an outside source dashed. Another couple of men brought two more people over and forced them into the kneeling position before the door. One of the people was Meg, Hudson avoided her gaze, not wanting to look into her questioning and pleading eyes. Much like the rest of the researchers and workers here, she was frightened and confused as to how a course of action could happen to such a prestigious place as Weyland-Yutani.

Hudson resisted as much as he dared as he too was forced to kneel on the cold tiled floor of the research lab. Pulling himeself from the large man's grip as the other tried to grip his scarred arm. Leaving Genna the only one left standing of the researchers, she looked small standing up on her own, and Hudson could see the look of concern and vulnerability on her face. These were standard scare tactics that a terrorist group would employ when they wanted something from someone, and Hudson already knew what they would want from her. Access codes.

"Are you going to let us do this the easy way?" Claude tormented the woman as he approached her, stepping over one of her co-workers. He moved closer to the door where a light banging could be heard from the other side. The Xenomorphs knowing something strange was going on on the human side of the door we're showing signs of renewed excitement. The aggitation of the creatures within the complex only matched with Claudes as Genna shook her head to his question.

"You won't get anything off me." he told the activist with full defiance in her voice. Her resentment for the man who'd hit her so violently only mere moments ago unwavering in her voice. Claude looked to Ajay and nodded his head.

"I wanted to avoid violence." the activist told Genna; stalking over to where she stood, but Genna just laughed. For a man that didn't want to cause violence; he was certainly hurting a lot of people. The laugh came out short and sharp. A single, 'Ha.' Before she was suddenly silenced again by the sound of a thundering gunshot. The boom rang out around the laboratory like a never ending echo. Genna whipped around to see who had been massacred due to her defiance. A cheek ran down her cheek for the loss of life of her co-worked, the scream and sobbing from Meg did little to comfort her; should couldn't look into their frightened eyes for they matched her own. The researchers seemed to huddle together to comfort one another for their loss. The isolation for her actions only bolstered Genna's resistance. They couldn't get the Xenomorphs free. It seemed as though someone didn't agree with her determination.

"They'll kill us all!" One of the researchers pleaded with her; another one got to his feet and rushed towards the doors control panel; rapidly punching in the access number. His shaking fingers failing him.

Genna screamed at him, telling him to stop. Hudson too was on his feet, his shoulder barged into the man; wrestling him to the ground. His assault didn't last long, as the burly operative pulled him off the downed man and pushed him away forcing the gun in his face yet again. The Marine however was prepared for the repetition of the action and the hand nearest the offered weapon to push the barrel to the side out of his face as it fired. Hudson could feel the heat searing from the end of the weapon; how all the shot missed him was nothing short of a minor miracle. The heel of his hand moved forwards to underneath the man's jaw and upon hearing a sickening crunch; finally Hudson gave thanks for all those bar brawls he'd been in over the recent years. Turning into the blow Hudson's elbow made connection to the activists stomach with had him doubled over; winded. It gave Hudson valuable seconds to wrench the shotgun from the stunned mans fingers and turn it on Claude.

To little to late. The distraction of the fight had the researcher punching in the final numbers of the code for the door. Genna had been trying to get him to stop, but to no prevail. Claude pushed the two of them aside as the white doors of the Xenomorphs confined opened. His arms outstretched as though he were greeting a long lost relative.

Hudson raised the weapon and waited for whatever hell he had left behind on LV426 to break loose, despite his gut instinct to turn on his heels and flee.


End file.
